The Lost Hunter eBook

a silver snake through green meadows, the gentle Yaupaae,
lingering, as if it loved the fields through which
it wandered, until suddenly quickening its pace, with
a roar as of angry vexation, it precipitated itself
in eddies of boiling foam, whose mist rose high into
the air, down a deep gorge, between overhanging rocks,
through which it had forced a passage. Thence
the stream, subsiding into sudden tranquillity, expanded
into a cove dotted with two or three little islands,
and flowing round the base of the hill which declined
gradually towards the west, united itself with the
Wootuppocut. Far beneath his feet he saw the roofs
of the houses, and steeples of churches, and masts
of sloops, employed in the coasting business, and
of brigs engaged in the West India trade, and noticed
a communication, partly bridge and partly causey, thrown
over the mouth of the Yaupaae and uniting the opposite
banks; for, on the western side, along the margin
and up the hill, houses were thickly scattered.

The canoe soon glided alongside of one of the wharves,
and the Indians disappeared in the streets.

CHAPTER II.

With us there was a Doctor of Physic:
In all this world ne was there none him like,
To speak of physic and of surgery.

* * * *
*

He knew the cause of every malady,
Were it of cold, or hot, or moist, or dry,
And where engendered, and of what humor:
He was a very perfect practiser.
The cause y know, and of his harm the root,
Anon he gave to the sick man his boot.

Chaucer.

The first care of the faithful Peena or Esther, was
to seek the doctor. She found him at home, and
was instantly admitted to his presence.

“Queen Esther,” he exclaimed, the moment
he saw her, “is it thou? Welcome, descendant
of a line of kings. Would’st like some cider?”
He spoke the word “cider” like the Indians,
with a rising inflection on the last syllable.
It was an offer no Indian could resist, and the squaw
answered simply in the affirmative. From a pitcher
of the grateful beverage, which shortly before had
been brought into the room, and which, indeed, suggested
the offer, the doctor filled a foaming glass, and
the squaw was not long in draining its contents, after
which she delivered herself of her errand.

“Esther,” exclaimed the doctor, rising
and hastening to collect his instruments and medicine
pouch, “thou hast circumvented me. Why did
you not tell me before? Here have I been pouring
cider into your royal gullet, when I should have hastened
to take a bullet out of some plebeian carcass.
Can you tell me the name of the wounded man?”

The squaw shook her head, and only said, “Esther
not know.”

By this time his preparations were completed, which
he had not allowed the conversation to interrupt,
and closely followed by the woman, he hastened to
the wharf. Here casting an eye to the flys that
waved from the masts of some of the vessels, and observing
the wind was fair, he rejected her offer to take him
in the canoe, and throwing himself into a little sail-boat,
was soon busily engaged in untying the sails.
While thus employed a voice saluted his ears: